Cisco is using Linux Containers (LXC) as the container technology. Wollenweber explained that IOS-XR is now based on a Linux infrastructure, which is what enable more toolchains and standard interfaces.
Wollenweber explained that the move to Linux for IOS-XR has been ongoing for a period of time. He noted that when IOS-XR first shipped in 2004 it was based on the QNX micro-kernel. Cisco has now taken all the benefit it has built into the QNX based IOS-XR and moved it into a 64-bit Linux infrastructure.